Setting the scene

The celebration around life events such as marriage, the birth of a child and purchasing your first apartment is often tainted by the accompanying administrative paperwork for both the citizen and the state. 

In Slovakia, the paperwork goes through the Ministry of Interior, the point of contact for citizens, businesses and NGOs. Due to strict regulations, the administrative offices prioritized compliance, which sidelined client needs and complicated the process. 

Additional burden was placed on the clients due to the siloed offices. The lack of interaction and coordination between public administration offices created more work for the citizens, who were required to provide paperwork across bureaus. 

In response, the Ministry decided to change their approach and create a customer centric public administration. 

How we helped

PwC worked with the Ministry of Interior to streamline the approach to life events and create an efficient process for both the administration and the citizens. The project consisted of two main parts: an in-depth analysis of the existing system and business recommendations. 

Before providing solutions, PwC identified more than 240 different life events and more than 800 required processes that citizens must undergo. The research also analysed each step of the process, from process input, triggers to other processes, and the outputs, which helped identify several bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Based on this research, we identified several bottlenecks and inefficiencies. 

Based on this information, PwC provided recommendations to optimize the process and improve citizen experiences from the client perspective. Our recommendations for a client-proactive approach included: 

• Diminishing of all unnecessary administrative burdens of citizens

• Proactive communication and triggering of services 

• Creation of a united public administration model 

Considering the large number of processes identified, the PwC team designed a process optimization methodology that could be applied universally. It became the accepted standard for further public services optimization projects. 

PwC’s project provided the tools for the Ministry of Interior to implement a new structure to optimize the process of life events for both citizens and administration. This includes a monitoring framework that provides the whole perspective to continue analysing the cost that each activity requires. 

The optimization was proposed for 60 life events and the Ministry is currently implementing the changes individually.

Impact and potential

The complete implementation of PwC’s recommendations will save both the state and citizens time and money.  

Citizens will no longer need to provide the same information multiple times per life event, limiting unnecessary interactions with public bodies. Instead, once the required data has been submitted to a public body, other public offices cannot request the same information. 

When citizens spend less time completing paperwork, administrative staff spend less time per life event and public offices reduce costs. 

As the Slovakia Ministry of Interior is equipped with monitoring strategies, administration officials can monitor the performance of their services to ensure high-quality citizen experiences. By continuing to analyse the regional availability, cost consumption and average processing time, the Ministry can adapt to citizens needs and improve the overall efficiency.